A Waiting Game
by e.sakano
Summary: She thinks of who she is, who he is, and all the reasons why it can never work. [IchiRukia, IchiHime]
1. Chapter 1

**Title** A Waiting Game **  
Warnings** Rukia, Orihime, Ichigo, some other people, and Relationships **  
Disclaimer** A legal piece of crap which says, with as many super-long words as possible, that I don't own what I write about. **  
Notes** Thanks to Curmudgeon-san, who wasn't afraid to tell me what I suspected, and really hoped wasn't true. Hopefully this won't reek fangirl to you, because that just makes me despise myself a bit. I like to pretend I'm open to relationships other than Ichi/Rukia. And, hopefully, this will be slightly better. I'll modify it more, later, because I'm not as well-versed in the manga as I should be.

* * *

If things continue to go as seems to be planned, Rukia is going to loose him some day. No, not even 'some day', but rather 'soon'. She has been trying desperately to prepare for the inevitable. Not to say that she hasn't seen it coming since their first meeting. 

After all, Ichigo is human (sort of) and she is shinigami. They will never be able to trully coexist. But despite her forknowledge, she still fell for the boy. Fell hard, fast, and subtly enough not to realize it until he conquered the impossible and saved her. But he is human.

Maybe,if he had been shinigami already, there would have been a chance. (Well, he is shinigami, but he's also human and that makes all the difference because she is dead. And he's alive.) She knows her feelings are reciprocated, in his usual clumsy way, and she thinks she might love him all the more for that.

But, again, he is human and she is shinigami. His place is in reality whilst she is an established member of Soul Society (and no matter what onii-sama does, she knows that she is close enough to her Ban Kai to taste captainship). She refuses to have him wait for death to taste love when even she has that much experience. Not the sort of passionate love that humans pride themselves upon (the one that he might be responsible for in her), but the slow kind that grows with experience. It may not be as impressionable, but it is just as strong in its own way.

Besides (and an odd sort of pain always hitches in her chest when she thinks this, no matter how adamant she may be on this plan falling through) Ichigo has Inoue. Inoue is perfect for him; she can read him well, and she will always, always support him. The girl might not have what it takes to get him out of his more major slumps, but she could always run to Tatsuki for help and with the new situation that had popped up?

Rukia has never lied to herself. Ichigo is as much in love with Inoue as he is in her. No, maybe more so? After all, it was obligation that drove him after her; an obligation to the woman who had given him the ability to protect his family from the supernatural. There is no such obligation driving him to rescue Inoue, just pure emotion. More emotion than if the other girl were just a friend. These two rescues are very different; Rukia's had been one fulfilling a debt of honor, while Orihime's was born from love. So he can be Inoue's prince charming, (And Inoue being Inoue will refuse to just be a damsel in distress; she will become stronger than anyone would have thought possible.) And Rukia will be able to trust her with Ichigo.

The two of them are good for each other.

(And if Ichigo falls into a slump, Inoue can always call on Tatsuki, who's known Ichigo long enough to be able to beat sense into him before he can dive too deeply into the realms of self-pity and indulgence. So it's a fail-safe plan. Really, it is.)

So it tears Rukia's heart out, but it won't take much for Ichigo to fall. He's half in love with her already, a benefit from Inoue being one of his closer accomplices. (Rukia doesn't quite know what to call his team; Chad, Orihime, and Ishida. Yes, they have all become quite close, but do they consider each other nakama yet?) So all Rukia has to do is step back and let nature take its course.

He has all his life to live, and she will have all of his death to be with him again. She knows he will still be Inoue's then, but at least he will be around. And, as they say, there is always a chance. A chance she will not hesitate to take when the time is right. Inoue will understand, especially since Ichigo's already on his way into falling so deeply in love that they will never truly part; a princess and her protector forever. (Too much of Rukia wants to cry at that thought, and too much of Rukia hopes that this is anything but true.)

Besides she has Renji (and her captain, and her aniki) to fill the void while she waits, and trains, and tries desperately to master the paradox of forgetting(remembering) every detail.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title** A Waiting Game **  
Warnings** Rukia, Orihime, Ichigo, some other people, and Relationships **  
Disclaimer** A legal piece of crap which says, with as many super-long words as possible, that I don't own what I write about. **  
Notes** The companion piece. Also unbeta-ed, so please just point out the errors for me to fix! And yes, it reads as rambling, but I wrote it all in one seating, so I'm not expecting anyone to find it to be a stellar piece.

* * *

If Ichigo continues like this Orihime will loose him as soon as their vows are broken. It will take a while, yes, but death is inevitable. Hopefully, she is already prepared for that coming, because it could be anytime from a moment to a decade from her 'now'. After all, they are growing older, and Rukia's absence only seems to grow more tangible. 

It should have worked out, really, because she loves Ichigo to the depths of her soul, and Ichigo loves her. It's been like that for as long as she can remember knowing him. True, Ichigo's love had always been a little different, but it had only evolved with their relationship to come closer and closer to what she felt for him.

Closer.

Sometimes Orihime wants to cry. Maybe, if Rukia had never been a part of the picture, Ichigo's love could have come to equal hers. Make no mistake, Ichigo loves her in his own clumsy way, and she might actually love him all the more for that, but she is a love that has been cultivated and grown, especially because she is human (mostly), and he is shinigami. They coexist, but it is a waiting and almost temporary thing because neither of them had wanted to waste love by waiting for death. So she loves him passionately, and he returns it as best as he can.

Still, sometimes he grows silent and Orihime knows that he is thinking back to a fall and December where everything nearly came apart. She had left, and he had tried to break away from half their nakama. And Orihime had come so close to believing that he could truly love her as she did him. He came after her, let Rukia slide away from him as he delved into a world he could not understand to bring her back. She had believed for a while. Believed until the day she learned Rukia had been taken back (into relative safety) under guard, leaving Ichigo with everyone's promise to bring her back safe.

He had wanted her back, too, but Orihime almost _knows_ that he had experienced none of the single-mindedness that consumed him during Rukia's sentencing. And that is where the difference between herself and Rukia became apparent. They are both alive to Ichigo, but only one abduction drove desperation into his soul.

Rukia has argued this fact with her thousands of times in every moment they have managed to see each other. It is in the shinigami's manner as a facade is built, veiling Rukia's thoughts behind a bright smile that is ten thousand times more believable than the act she had built from horror manga. It is in Rukia's vague expressions and vacant eyes, and sometimes Orihime wants nothing more than to shake the smaller girl until she realizes the truth.

Because there are times when Ichigo grows so quiet, and maybe a little depressed and a little nostalgic, and she never quite knows what to do. She knows he is remembering something about chasing Rukia (maybe being struck down by Kuchiki Byakuya-taichou's blade, or struggling to master his Ban Kai, or the expression on the girl's face when he reappeared before her). It happens whenever they pass the high school, and everything about him makes it so that Orihime relives that moment of shock, happiness, and relief, when he saw Rukia's tiny frame balanced in the classroom window.

She always has to bring him back, though, because he can't spend the rest of his life in a dream. Sometimes just an attempt is enough to snap him out of it, and for a while, so are their babies. But eventually, it always comes to Tatsuki rushing over at the sound of her tears and beating on Ichigo and harassing her husband in a way that is almost so perfect that Rukia's distance is suddenly further than just death and Soul Society.

Orihime has the rest of Ichigo's lifetime to love, and be loved in return. Until death do they part, because Rukia will be waiting. And even if Orihime will never have enough of her waiting game (because no matter how nerve-wrecking it is, Ichigo's love is hers so long as they both breath), she will not stay their path. Besides, her Ichigo is a pale imitation, as is the Rukia Renji guards; those two are only vibrant together.


End file.
